


Refraction

by thesometimeswarrior



Series: Flash Fic (A Collection of Drabbles, Double Drabbles, and Triple Drabbles) [48]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Identity Issues, Steven's Subtle Identity Crisis, Triple Drabble, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23539030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: “Can I…ask you something?” Steven says. “About…the Mirror?”
Relationships: Lapis Lazuli & Steven Universe
Series: Flash Fic (A Collection of Drabbles, Double Drabbles, and Triple Drabbles) [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1143650
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	Refraction

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during Season 4 of the original series.

“Can I…ask you something?” Steven says. “About…the Mirror?”

Lapis furrows her eyebrows. They’re sitting in the truck cab that she and Peridot had repurposed into a balcony at the top of the Barn, looking out at the sun setting over the farm and at Peridot roaming the cornfields with Pumpkin. Until Steven had asked the question, all had been calm, serene—one of those moments on Earth that Lapis like best, the way night approached and painted colors in the sky—but when he had, it changed into something else entirely. 

But it’s _Steven_ asking, Steven who’d _freed_ her, Steven _her friend_. So, without turning to look at him, tensing her fingers, she nods. “Okay.”

“When you were in there, for all that time…did you…did you feel like _you_?”

“What do you _mean_?! I was being _tortured_!”

“I know...I just meant...Did you ever… _forget_ who you were? And…start to believe that you _were_ a mirror? That you’d never actually been anyone or anything else?” 

(His hand sits on the spot, where, underneath his shirt, his Gemstone pulses. He clenches it.)

“No. I was never that lucky.”

Something passes over his features then, something inscrutable, that at first glance looks like _relief_ —but it _can’t_ be, because this is _Steven_ , and he would never be _relieved_ that she was in pain. When she looks again, it looks more like _doubt_. But he _believes_ her, he _always_ believes her, he _has_ to…

The air is cooler now. The sky darkens. Crickets chirp, and Lapis tries to listen to them, to reclaim a morsel of that peace she’d felt until a moment ago. 

(And if she can’t, she tells herself, this is _Earth_. Everything here is temporary. Perhaps they will both feel better in the morning.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I love comments!


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